Raise the Remains
by AliLamba
Summary: One-Shot, Jate // Oh gosh. This is…an on-Island…strip poker fic. Uh. Yeah. Of course it gets smutty.


**RAISE THE REMAINS  
By:** AliLamba  
**Rated:** NC-17  
**Notes:** Set in Otherville, sometime…heck, I have no idea. Let's pretend there's a time when everyone's at the Barracks, living in the houses with or without some of the Others. Right. Like that will happen. Uh, it just sort of wrote itself like this, until it was too far gone to actually think about logistics. So yes. It's a flirt-fest, this is, and then it just turned…naughty. And you'll never know how hard I laughed while entertaining the name "Aces Wild" for this fic. It was just too much. The title actually comes from Sondre Lerche's song "The Tape" from his latest album biz-ness. It's a freakin' good song.

* * *

Kate bit her lip, standing on Jack's small, identically manufactured porch. In one hand, she held a deck of playing cards—slick, new, and freshly unwrapped—and she rested them against her collar bone as she examined the front door.

She was stalling, obviously, trying to find a good enough reason not to be there.

Because in her other hand, the one hanging by her side…she held a bottle of tequila, with two shot glasses balanced between her fingers and thumb.

The thought had been niggling at her consciousness ever since she had un-earthed the precious bottle of liquor earlier that afternoon, while going through the closet of whoever's house it was she was staying in. There had been a thick layer of dust covering it, but Kate didn't have to know much about alcohol to know that it was a good, maybe even great, find.

Shaking off her indecision, Kate tapped the deck of cards against the door. For a minute, there was silence, and Kate wondered quickly if Jack was asleep. It wasn't yet 10, but maybe…

Jack answered, recognition widening his eyes. He looked decidedly disheveled, as if he had been caught being really, supremely lazy. Or perhaps just bored.

"Oh—hey, Kate," he tried to sound casual, but it was obvious in the first few milliseconds that he was surprised to find her.

"Can I come in?" she asked, biting her lower lip now for a whole different reason.

Jack paused, still a little shocked, as his gaze traveled between her two hands and he distinguished what she was holding. His expression transformed—eyebrow quirking, mouth stretching into an open, sort of lop-sided, questioning grin.

"Jack?"

He started at the sound of her voice, and then pulled the door open wide, allowing her to step inside. There were some lights on, but not many. A book lay open by the couch, it's spine strongly creased as the pages lay exposed against the side-table.

The furniture almost identical to the choice pieces in her own place, Kate settled into the armchair and set the alcohol and glasses on the coffee table.

"Kate…?"

Jack was still standing by the now-closed door, hands hanging limply on his hips. The same curious expression was still marking his eyes and lips, his gaze flickering between the three alien objects settling into his living room.

"I was thinking," Kate started, as she opened the box and tipped the deck of cards into her hands, "I was thinking about that time on the beach, when we were playing poker."

That got Jack moving, and he took cautious steps towards the sitting area. "Yeah…" he intoned, inviting her to continue.

"Well, I was also thinking…that you could teach me."

Jack stopped moving, and his chin tilted slightly. And then as if remembering, he smiled. "I thought you only played for fun."

Kate couldn't help the grin that poked its way up her cheeks. "Is that a no?" she challenged.

Jack laughed, shaking his head, and made the last few steps around the couch. "No, it's not a no." He plopped down on the cushions closest to her chair, so their knees were almost touching at a 90-degree angle, and nodded towards the tequila. "And that is supposed to help, how?"

Her mysterious grin bloomed, and Kate started to slowly cut the deck between her two hands. "What's a little poker without some friendly alcohol addiction?"

* * *

They didn't have any coins or poker chips to play with, so they ended up using a random collection of buttons Jack pulled off one of the bookshelves. "Sometimes I don't think I want to know who lived here before me," he'd joked as he'd returned with them. By then, she and Jack had already downed a shot between them, and Kate had refilled their glasses. She had been right about the liquor—it may have burned down her throat, but it was a slow, coating sort of flame.

Jack pulled out a handful of buttons, and examined them, before dropping them carefully as a pile in front of Kate. "Uh, I guess…bigger buttons will be more valuable?"

There was something about the way Jack said something as innocuous as "button" which made Kate giggle. He raised an eyebrow at her, grinning himself, and then his eyes dropped to the deck of cards Kate was still folding over her fingers. Jack wet his lips, and then made a half-move to take them.

"Uh," he paused, looking up at her eyes, "Can I?"

Kate nodded, and held them out to him. If their hands grazed as he picked them up, it was barely noticeable.

Jack set to shuffling the deck immediately and expertly, the flutter of cards soft against the smooth wooden surface they were playing on.

"Alright," he started, "basics?"

Kate couldn't help but tilt her head to the side, giving him a semi-pleading glance.

"What," Jack questioned, bluntly. Kate rolled her eyes.

"Jack, I'm from Iowa. It's no Thailand, but we do play Texas Hold'em."

He chuckled at that, maybe a little embarrassed, and then reached for his small glass of amber liquid. "Why do I think that I'm going to be glad you found this?" he asked, semi-rhetorically, as he tilted the tequila down his throat. Kate lifted her chin into the air on a comically indignant sort of pout.

"Hey, I'm not _that_ difficult."

That only made him laugh harder, and after a moment, Kate was grinning with him.

"Okay, okay…" she said, as they settled, and Kate swallowed her shot and poured a fresh round. "So, basics: pot in the middle, with the board, and we both have the two cards…"

"The hole cards, yes."

"…the hole cards, fine…and there's something about a blind."

Jack grinned, looking like it was hard for him to withhold his amusement.

"Hey!" Kate whined playfully, as she poked his shoulder, "No making fun of me." That only released Jack's pent-up laughter, though it came out on an awkward string of coughs.

"Okay, sorry, I promise, no jokes."

She gave him a glare, but there was only an impish anger to it, and nodded towards the deck of cards Jack was idling with. That seemed to start Jack from whatever was playing in his mind's eye, and he set about dealing the cards between them.

"So, blinds?"

A grin pushed the corners of Jack's mouth, but true to his promise, he didn't laugh. "Hard to do blind_s_ in two-person poker, Kate. But you're right, there are usually two: big blind and little blind, to the left of the dealer. They're just sort of forced bets."

Kate bit her lip in concentration, and peeked at her hand: an ace of diamonds and an eight of clubs. That felt good, she thought, though she kept her expression neutral. When she looked up, she found Jack staring at her. She grinned, the action a little mocking.

"Trying to read my thoughts, Jack?"

He chuckled quickly and defensively, shaking his head, reaching out to the five cards set in a line between them. "Alright, I'm going to flip the first three cards—it's what's called the flop." Kate nodded, so Jack turned over the two of clubs, the queen of hearts, and the eight of spades. "Hold'em, as I'm sure you know," he cast a more serious look towards her, making her try to turn her grin into an indignant frown, "is about strategy. It's about knowing at all times what the best possible hand is, and betting to push that knowledge."

Kate nodded, more resolutely this time. "Got it."

* * *

Kate was bent over double, laughing so hard that tears pricked the corner of her eyes. The bottle of tequila was almost half gone, and she could feel it, as she clutched her two useless cards. Jack's hand had been worse though, but he had gone all in, and the expression…when he lost…well, it made Kate's laughter return full force. In what had followed the final flip, somehow, all the buttons on the table had gone flying, which was what had set Kate and Jack off to begin with.

"Jack—" Kate heaved, trying to regain her senses, "Jack I can't breathe!" She lapsed into another fit of laughter, clutching her sides.

"Agghhh," Jack was groaning, as he leaned over the back of the couch and massaged his eyelids. "I can't believe you beat me with a _five kicker_…"

Kate tried to swallow another shot of tequila, but she choked on it, sputtering as it danced down her throat. Jack looked up at her, a half laughing, half pitying expression, and Kate lost it again. Falling to the floor, she let the amusement wash over her.

"Jack, I can't believe you can hold your liquor so well," Kate said at last, lying on her back, wiping the tears from her eyes. Jack slid off the couch and joined her, mimicking her position with their heads together.

"Kate, need I mention again, that you beat me, with a _five kicker_."

That set her off again, until she was rubbing her hands down her stomach in an attempt to settle the laughter. Jack rolled onto his own stomach and onto his elbows, inching his way towards Kate's head.

"When're you gonna admit, Jack, that I'm just a better poker face than you?"

Jack let out a short bark of laughter. "A better poker face?" he returned, and as much as she tried to smother it, Kate laughed again.

And then she realized how close Jack was to her. Her laughter petered out almost immediately, and then she had to swallow, slow and deliberate, to shock some reality back into herself.

"Jack," she drew his attention from her lips to her eyes, "Jack, I think we're outta buttons."

His head poked over the edge of the table, and he took in the scattered mess of tokens. "Yeah, well, I didn't think your big purple square one was really equal to my striped glittery round one anyway."

Giggles tumbled from her throat, and Kate bit her lip.

"We could play a drinking game?" she suggested, drawing his attention back to her face. She could feel his breath on her forehead, against the soft strands of her hair, and somehow…it stirred a low, warm liquid below her abdomen. Jack licked his lips.

But then, almost abruptly, he sat up, shrugging, and set about collecting the cards into a pile. Kate's attempt at sitting up was a bit more shaky, but she found the rush of blood to her head helped.

"Drinking game?" he repeated.

Kate swallowed again, smoothing her hair back behind her ears.

"Unless you feel like losing in poker some more?"

His returning grin was decisively rakish. "As far as I'm concerned, you have me at a disadvantage."

Kate leaned forward, meaning to rest her hand flat against the table, but somehow it ended up curled against his inner forearm. Had she been of the mind to, she would have noticed Jack stop breathing momentarily. "Jack, I believe you are insinuating that I brought this lovely gift of fine tequila here only as a ploy to get you drunk."

"Oh," Jack laughed, a little stiltedly, "I think we both know that's exactly what's going on here."

Her grin stretched merrily, her tongue poking out to wet her lips softly. "Hey, Jack, if you can't handle it…"

He held up a hand to stop her. "Hey, I'm not saying I can't handle it, I'm just saying the stakes aren't even."

That brought Kate's lower lip between her teeth. A thought, even more dangerous than the first had surfaced, and it was something, really something, to keep it in.

"What," Jack said, drawing her attention. He had been looking at her.

Kate shook her head dismissively. "No, it was nothing."

"What?" he asked again, casually collecting the stray cards with one hand, downing another shot of tequila with the other. He poured more into their glasses, spilling only a little.

"Well…" Kate started, then she grinned, mischievously, up at him, a sly sort of twinkle to her eye. "We could play strip poker."

A loud crash of thunder echoed through the window.

Surprisingly, neither of them jumped. Jack had stopped moving, hand poised above the queen of spades, though the deck of slick new cards was spilling out the back of his fist. Kate was waiting for him to move, to initiate some sort of direction. "Are you serious, Kate?"

"Why, you don't think you could handle it?"

Loud, thick raindrops started pelting the porch roof outside, and it seemed to shake Jack out of whatever stupor he was in.

"Kate, I'm a surgeon. Anatomy is what I _do_."

She bit her lip—hard—to suppress the grin this time. "Okay, so we don't have to play _just_ for clothes…we could do shots as well."

He seemed more comfortable with that idea, but still wasn't sold.

"Kate, really, I don't think that's such a good id—"

"Jack," she cut him off, feeling entirely too sober. "It's miserable outside. Do you really think anyone's going to come by for a visit?"

He gave her a quick look that clearly betrayed that someone very well could. "C'mon, Kate, we're not in high school."

It was a grasp at a straw, and Kate knew it. With a slow, dangerous grin, Kate drew her finger down the inside of his arm, to his wrist, slipping the half-collected deck of cards from his hand. 

"That sounds like an evasion, Jack. I very well could think that you're afraid I might see you naked."

Jack had gone eerily still, but at this, a grin morphed his lips. Turning his gaze from the messed table between them, Jack looked to the window, then back at Kate. The look in his eyes sent a spark through her stomach, as it felt like it flipped.

But Jack merely stood from the floor, walked towards the front windows, and drew the shades. He threw the deadbolt on the door, and then, slowly, he turned back towards her. She couldn't see his face as he made his way back, so few lights were lit in the house, but there was no way she could mistake Jack tugging his worn t-shirt over his head, to discard it over the couch cushions before slipping in between the table.

"That," he told her casually, as he took the deck from Kate's stock-still hand, "was a freebie."

* * *

Kate recovered quickly enough, but for a few hands, they played conservatively. Kate had to down a shot and a half, then Jack had to do one, and then neither did anything when Jack bowed out of the third hand. The warmth was starting to swim in her belly, as the light kept catching shadows against the muscles in Jack's arms, shoulders, and chest. It had been a long time since she'd seen him like this, so close, and she had certainly forgotten the effects of it.

Kate was peeking at her hand for what must've been the fifth time since the turn of the fourth card. If the last card was a heart, she had a flush, and Kate was trying not to get too excited.

"I'll see your shot," Kate called, and licked her lips carefully, as casually as possible. "And raise you a pair of pants."

"Whoa now," Jack whistled, though there was a grin on his face. "Are you sure about that?"

Trying not to smile, Kate shrugged. "Wanna see?"

Jack looked down at his cards once more, but then…he nodded, in a call.

Slowly, Jack extended his hand to the river card, and Kate held her breath as he flipped it over.

The ace of hearts.

_Yes!_ she inwardly celebrated, and a grin managed to eke out as she flipped over her hand.

"I think that's called a flush, Jack." She wiggled the cards against the wood. "Pants please?"

But Jack wasn't moving. With what very much looked like a very barely suppressed laugh, Jack flipped over his own cards—the ace of diamonds, and the ace of spades. There were two sixes on the board…so Jack had…a full house.

For a moment she just sat there, staring, not bothering to keep her mouth closed. And then she squinted at him, daring him to expose himself as a cheater. Jack's laughter was now coming mostly through his nose, and he couldn't seem to manage to look at her. Kate wanted to glower, but his amusement was starting to infect her, so with an exaggerated sigh, she held out her hand.

"_Fine_," she said, "shot?"

He dutifully poured her one, and Kate threw it back. And then, leaning against the couch, she reached down, and undid the button on her jeans. Whatever smile had been playing on Jack's face, was dashed when he heard the tell-tale unzipping of her fly.

"Wait," he sobered, "Kate, no, we don't have to do this."

Ignoring him, Kate shimmied from her pants, then picked them up and threw them at him.

"Don't you dare be a sore winner, Jack. You won't be able to for long."

The laughter returned, though Jack pulled the jeans quickly from his face. "Oh yeah?"

His voice was…quieter, than before. The teasing was still there, but it was charged now, that they were partially nude. Kate found the need to swallow, and she felt it very distinctly, as the pressure moved down her throat.

"Y-yeah."

She dealt this time. She only ended up with a pair of tens, but she called when Jack raised her a shirt. And when she lost, to his three fours, she slipped it from her head, and let it drop to the floor. Neither was laughing now, the room electrically silent, and Jack dealt another round with one hand.

On the flop, she found she had a pair of fours, and Kate flirted with the idea of going all in. A round of tequila went into the pot, and then the turn showed another useless card.

"Do you want to, uh…do you want to raise, Kate?"

Kate licked her lips. She had a single pair, maybe a ten kicker, but she didn't feel like backing down. So she nodded, finding Jack staring at her.

"Another half shot, and clothes."

"Clothes?"

"Pants." It sounded too much like a purr, and Kate had to reign it back in. So she added, on a more teasing note, "I want your pants, Jack."

He chuckled, but it was quieter than before, and he shook his head ruefully. "Somehow, I don't think they'll fit you, Kate."

She tilted her lower lip into her mouth, then raked her teeth over it as she pushed it back out. Trying to shrug, she glanced back at the cards. "I want your pants, Jack," she reiterated, fingering her two hidden cards.

She glanced up in time to see him nod, and then he flipped the last card: a seven of something.

"Let's see 'em," Jack said, his voice barely above a whisper. She flipped her hand to show her pair of fours, and though Jack chuckled, he didn't show her his own, instead tossing them into the messy pile of discards.

With a casual lean, Jack echoed Kate's earlier movements, tugging down his zip, and slipping the pants off his hips. The rain was still pouring mercilessly outside, and for the first time in awhile, Kate heard it. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and her stomach was only getting warmer.

"I guess the stakes are getting higher, Jack. I almost have you beat."

"That's a pretty big _almost_, Kate."

They were saying each other's names like they needed to hear them. Both down to their underwear, the room was charged like it was secretly magnetized. Silence was thick, so she heard every lick of his lips, every rustle of simple, cotton fabric. Jack chuckled, lightly, sounding forced.

"You can look, Kate. I wear boxers."

A warmth spread to her cheeks, making her head feel lighter than it had been under so much tequila. Kate had to bite her lip, but she knew, that she wanted to see. So she tried to make a show of peering around the coffee table, taking in the conservatively striped pair of cotton shorts. She tried to nod somberly, to make one of them laugh, but their breathing was too audible.

"It's your deal, Kate." His voice wasn't so much whispered any more, as breathy, his eyes staring at her face. She felt the need to swallow again, and couldn't help but notice that he watched the column of her throat as she did so.

Kate picked up the cards, some of them, fighting the heavy beating of her heart, and the way it constricted her lungs. She dealt. It took a moment for her to remember to check her own hand: a three and a king. Both black.

Jack took a quick peek, and then nodded for Kate to flop the first three cards. She did so. A ten, an eight, and a queen.

"Standard shot?" Jack murmured, for formality. Kate nodded.

"Standard shot."

"I will," Jack started, his gaze sliding away from her face for barely a second, "I'll raise you another." Kate had forgotten what her cards were, so she checked them again. She nodded again.

Jack licked his lips, fingering a stray button. He nodded towards the board, so Kate turned the fourth card.

His face betrayed nothing, as he looked at the seven of something. But then he glanced at her. "Wanna put in clothes, Kate?"

Her chest was rising of its own accord, and Kate checked her cards, before realizing she didn't care what they were. "I'll put in clothes," she murmured, leaning forward just the smallest bit.

Jack's gaze darted towards the window, as a fresh peal of thunder echoed from outside. "Are you sure?"

"You mean, am I sure I want to win?" It was a desperate move to inject some lightness, and Jack accepted it. He smiled, encouragingly, so Kate turned the last card.

It was red, that's about all she saw, because Jack turned his cards over to reveal a straight. Kate flipped her own, casually, and then grinned.

"Caught my bluff, Jack," she murmured, and Jack laughed softly, focusing his gaze on the table. But then he stopped, when Kate started reaching behind her back.

"Kate—" he breathed, eyes going wide, "Kate, what're you doing?"

She didn't look away, smiling mysteriously, as the clasp of her bra came free. "Don't try to back out now, Jack," she said, her murmur soft, the warmth in her core now licking into flame. A thrill of excitement shot through her chest as she saw his gaze dart to her chest, as he unconsciously licked his already-wet lips. Kate tilted her shoulders to slide the bra off her front, and then used one arm to cover her breasts, as she discarded the material to the floor. The room was silent, save for the splattering of rain, and Jack's deep, steady breathing. Kate's inner thighs were warming up towards her pelvis, desire slowly making itself aware. She turned, to grab a pillow from the chair, and then tucked it against her chest. It seemed to make Jack relax a little.

He cleared his throat into his fist, "Uh, do you want to, uh…keep going?"

Kate was amusedly biting her inner cheek, her gaze fluttering between his eyes and the table. "Jack. Don't tell me a little anatomy's gettin' the better of you just yet."

He laughed for the formality of it, and then picked up the deck of cards, taking longer than was necessary to shuffle them. He dealt, having to reorganize the board when it came out unsteadily.

Kate had two jacks.

"Standard shot?" Jack whispered.

Kate shook her head, making Jack's head jerk towards her. "Clothes," she returned, eyes dipping to where his boxers were through the coffee table. This time, Jack swallowed carefully, but he nodded, and turned the first three cards on the board.

A four, an eight, and a two.

Excitement was squirming in her stomach, as she looked to Jack once she recognized the cards. He was grinning, trying to stop it enough to formulate speech. "I, uh…there's not really anything else to bet, Kate. Unless you want to go back to buttons."

Kate shifted closer, leaning towards their shared corner of the table.

"A touch," she whispered.

Jack froze, his eyes darting into empty space. "A touch?" he returned, his voice hoarse.

"A touch."

Jack laughed, and rubbed a hand over his jaw. "Kate, c'mon, you can't really be serious."

She leaned back against the chair, drawing her legs closer to her thighs against the wooden floor. "Hey, it's your mind in the gutter, Jack."

The look he sent her was penetrating, made Kate's heart beat twice what it was doing before. A heavy throb echoed from her core to her navel, making her squirm.

"Fine," he agreed, "a touch."

His hand jerked a little, as he flipped over the fourth card. Another jack. Kate barely saw it.

"A kiss," she ventured, drawing Jack's gaze. His jaw was thick, but he nodded, and without waiting, he flipped the last card: a seven.

Using the back of her fingernails, Kate teased her cards over, exposing her three of a kind. Jack swallowed, looked away, and then flipped his own cards, throwing them into the pot.

He had a straight flush.

Kate licked her lips, carefully, and turned to Jack's face. He was determined to look in the other direction, at anything, or at nothing, and Kate felt a shy smile try to worm its way across her face. "You win, Jack." Kate shed her pillow, slowly, and pushed the table back. Jack was adamantly still, his eyes focused on anything else.

Until Kate, emboldened by anything, slid over his lap, arms anchoring her weight on either side of his hips. The way she moved subtly, trying to find the right position, was distressing to him.

"_Kate_," he released, as his eyes closed and his hands twitched where he had them stapled to the ground. "Kate…don't do this."

Their clothes attributed them to teenagers, but this…this pressed the line into something far less innocent. Her limbs were moving too liquidly for her to have entire control over them, but the heat that filled the pocket between their chests was no less potent.

"What did I say, Jack," she whispered, until her knees glanced off his outer thighs, legs moving up his to straddle his lap, "What did I say about being a sore winner?"

She was dangerously close to the proof of Jack's arousal, and in one swift movement, Jack grabbed her hips, his eyes flashing dangerously to pin her movements.

"_Kate_," he threatened her. The hands that gripped her flesh only swept the heat up her sides, unknowingly arching her back towards him as her sex gushed with warmth.

"You won, Jack. I…I'm not about to let that…go…"

And before he could rally against it, she strained against his protesting hands, and kissed him. She could feel how stiff he was, how much he didn't want it like this, but her lips were so insistent, like the last time, and she felt it as every vertebrae melted. His own lips, at first moving only to follow her own ministrations, morphed into tempted aggression, until Jack was trying to deny his tongue the encouragement needed into her mouth. She spoke of it for him, her light moan catching on her throat until it reverberated down through her torso, into his hands. The shiver ran up his chest, until it reached his shoulders, and then the fingers he had on her hips dug in, and his tongue rolled from his mouth. It sent her own, shuddering shock through her core, lighting up her chest as it did so.

Kate pressed her breasts against his chest, forcing Jack's hands from stopping her. Their mouths were melting together, and Kate encouraged it, winding an arm around his neck to pillow the back of his head, her other sliding over the couch behind his back. One of Jack's own hands went flat against her back, rubbed up her spine until her shoulder blades, then down, pressing, dragging against her heated skin until he found the curve of her ass, the elastic top of her cotton panties. The feel of them emboldened Jack, and he breathed roughly into another kiss, and dragged her pelvis up his thighs until she could feel his bulge against her sex. This time, the moan flew from her lips on impulse, and it spurred Jack into motion, bucking his hips upwards, until he was on his knees, bending Kate over the coffee table and pressing her back against the mess of tokens littered there.

Something spilled, the sound of glass falling against hard wood, but neither was in the mood to stop it. Kate's thighs dragged up Jack's hips, up his sides, and it slid their pelvises together, angled both their sexes so she could feel the impression of him in the shallow cavern of her core. 

Jack hissed in a breath, and their mouths parted, his hips unconsciously grinding against her even as he pulled back.

"_Jack_," she panted, without anything to say. He must've noticed her bare chest, because his mouth dipped to it, and with no pretense of what he was going for, his lips touched her breast. A rush of heat pooled between her thighs, as Kate moaned and rocked her hips, Jack's swollen lips and tongue finding her nipple and lavishing attention. In a messy blur, Jack's hands wound under her waist and hoisted them both upright, until they were crashing through the hallway, through doorways and towards the bedroom. Things fell off walls and shelves, but they didn't stop, until Kate was almost biting Jack's lip in unrestrained need, both their muttered "_fuck_"s coming breathily.

He dropped her unceremoniously to the bed they found, and ripped her panties down her legs. Kate felt the rush of cold air against her skin from the unused room, and it grounded her against the throb of her center. "Jack," she breathed, "Jack, condom."

But Jack was staring at her, and he came closer, touched her knee, then slid his hand down her inner thigh, until his fingers were dancing through the hair there. Kate's breath hitched, got stuck in her lungs as she waited for him to direct her. He touched her, the side of his finger dragging between her folds, against her clit, until his fingernail grazed the sensitive spot. A shudder echoed down her spine, spread the warmth across the breadth of her hips.

"_Jack_…"

He was leaning over, towards her, then ducking, until his hot breath was marking kisses along her thighs, grazing towards where they met.

Kate sucked in her breath, and tried to pull back. "No, Jack," she released, "Y-you…you don't have…"

But he wasn't hearing her. His kiss pressed against her crux, then another, lighter, before his tongue slipped out, and touched her.

Kate felt her head fall back, and her body open, folds and folds of tissue and muscle unwinding inside her as Jack…Jack's mouth… The pressure started to build, thick and heavy beneath his tongue, and the panic followed the pleasure. "_Jack_," she pleaded, though the desire was coming faster, and as spasms touched the muscles threaded through her core his intimate caresses only became more demanding. Kate's breath started to pitch, started coming quicker and shorter, the molten weight pushing for her orgasm. Jack's fingers found her opening and slipped inside, and Kate felt the precipice.

"_No_," she ground out, and her hand shot out to grab his painfully. When he looked up at her, her eyes were screwed shut, though her mouth was open on the heady sighs.

"_Condom_."

Jack's hand lunged for the bedside night table, and he scrambled inside, until his fingers found the tell-tale square package. He ripped it open with his teeth, and left her to roll it on.

Kate felt the saliva sticking to her throat, the almost angry throbs of pleasure through her inner walls. She wanted to hold on, and then realized she didn't know why. She didn't open her eyes when she felt Jack again between her thighs, his cock push against her intimately as he leaned over her body, kissing along her jaw as he readied himself before her. When he pushed himself inside, slowly, as if he was afraid this was her first time though both knew too well it wasn't, Kate's mouth opened, her eyebrows relaxed as she released a sigh. Jack's exhale was stronger, but it stopped his kisses, and his head fell against the bedding above her shoulder as he started to move.

The pressure licked up again, and Kate compelled it, her hips unconsciously starting to move against his. _Jack_, she whispered, until the word became a mantra. The sound of it focused his attention, until his kisses came back, his tongue pressing into her mouth uninvited, and coaxing. And Kate found her eyebrows stitching together as she felt the pressure building her orgasm, the cries sticking against her throat as it came closer, and closer, and—! Kate's hands gripped Jack's shoulders, and she crashed their hips together, the waves of satisfaction splitting her thighs. She was aware, so barely, as Jack's orgasm followed after.

As they fell to the bedding, the mouths they had pulled apart now rejoined, tired but desperate to prolong the feelings, to imitate more of what was there.

Kate's smile started to grow from somewhere in her chest, her breathing coming back to normalcy. Jack's hands were running over her body, pressing her flesh against his frame, at times inhaling almost sharply as if to be reassured that she was real. They too, got tired after a time, until he kissed her again, slow and sweet, the taste of tequila nearly gone. There wasn't anything to be said, and it was doubtful they could have found the words anyway, such was the quiet amazement in their shared position.

_You didn't know, Katie. You didn't know it could be this good_.

The thoughts brought another happy smile to her face, warm breath coming from her lungs and past her teeth and lips.

"Kate…" his voice said, and he tugged her against him now closer than ever.

They both fell asleep, the kind that comes from being entirely exhausted and sated at the point where you don't care how uncomfortable you are. Where active thought blends seamlessly into the unconscious, breathing tempered into empty air.

The first thing Kate became aware of was a different scent: entirely masculine, all sweat and heat and aftershave. And then a different taste: stale alcohol on her tongue. And then she felt it, that what she should have noticed first—Jack's naked body pressed against her back, all the loose muscles and warm skin. Memory poured into her consciousness, and Kate smiled, little sparks of awareness lighting up her nerves all over again. Her mouth tasted awful though, and no amount of swallowing could really get away from that.

So she rolled over, carefully, pulling herself away as she moved to face him. Self-consciously, she tugged the sheet up over her chest, securing it there gracelessly with one hand, tucking the other beneath her head.

"Jack…" she whispered, knowing him too well. He jumped awake, and in the quick flash where he recognized her, he calmed, until he was blinking away the tiredness. For a moment, she was afraid that he would regret or forget everything, and her gratitude was that much more refreshing when he merely smiled warmly at her.

"Good morning, Kate," he murmured, voice hoarse with disuse. There was an awkward pause, where they both waited for the other to initiate some sort of progression of the morning. She realized it would have been easier to just have left, and wondered briefly why she hadn't.

A frown crossed Jack's forehead, and Kate held her breath until he reached awkwardly behind his back, stretching his arm until he stopped. With a laughing smile, Kate watched him pull back a large, red, glittering button into the gap between them and examine it curiously. Soon, Jack was chuckling as well. In one, fluid movement, Jack wrapped an arm around Kate's waist and tugged her against him, both very much smiling and happy as their chests crashed together.

"Kate…" he started after awhile, his voice quiet and questioning. "Kate, I…" he trailed off, but she heard what wasn't there: I'm sorry about how that happened, and I feel like I've taken advantage of you.

"It's okay," she said softly, not wanting to ruin the warm sunshine pouring through the windows. So she impishly decided to admit something. "I was marking cards anyway."

He laughed, so softly, and kissed the top of her head. "I know."

* * *

**end notes: **Oh goodness, it's long. On LJ I split this up into two parts, and I'm sure I should have here. Ah well. If you have the time, leave a review...? The Biggest Lie will be updated tomorrow.


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